Leicester City Council Considers iPads Purchase with Looming Job Losses of 1,000

Should a city council move ahead and invest in new technology so members can better function in their positions and save funds from the budget in the future or bypass progression for the sake of current looming debt and forsake all major expenditures? That is the question that is at front and center with the Leicester City Council. The council is considering a purchase of 40,000 pounds worth of iPads.

Unison union has criticized the purchase of the iPads as outrageous when the council has announced they need to find 100 million pounds in savings by 2015. The city council announced in July that in attempt to find the 100 million pounds in savings that a possible 1,000 jobs could be lost.

Gary Garner from Unison said: “They shouldn’t even purchase them.”

“They should start looking at cuts around public services and the 10o million pounds of savings they’ve got to make.”

The council believes the devices could save them 90,000 pounds a year in printing and postage cost alone.

Ross Grant of Leicester City’s Council, who is in favor of purchasing the iPads for the 54 council members and senior officers said: “There’s huge savings potentially in investing in some IT. It may be iPads, it may be something else, but we may have to spend up to 50 or 60 million pounds replacing the New Walk Centre.”

“So if we could get a few hundred staff working from home using this kind of technology, then that’s where we’d make huge savings.”

The council will probably ultimately be making a decision that will have an impact in the future for Leicester City, even if it isn’t a popular one.

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